AN EPISTOLARY ANSWER To an Exciseman, Who doubted her being the Author of the Washerwoman's Labour. Mary Collier Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T125590 Collier, Mary, c.1690-c.1762. Poems, on Several Occasions, by Mary Collier, Author of the Washerwoman's Labour, with some remarks on Her Life. Winchester Printed by Mary Ayres; for the Author. MDCCLXII. 1762 pp. []-32. 68p.

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AN EPISTOLARY ANSWER To an Exciseman , Who doubted her being the Author of the Washerwoman's Labour . Good Sir , by our English Laws The Accused party may Have leave to plead , themselves to clear , But you condemn Straightway . Unseen , unheard , the Sentence past , For you are sure , I hear , No Woman ever made those lines That in my Name appear . But I'm much more sure that you For once mistaken are ; You are not infallible , nor fit To fill the Papal Chair . For there is none on Earth below , Nor yet above the Sky , Can truly say , they made that Book , But poor , despised I . And whether you believe or not The thing is certain true ; That Washerwoman made those lines That now are Sent to you . Tho' my Extraction was so low , And I to labour bred ; Yet Stories of the Pagan Gods I oft have seen , and read . And were you now In Petersfield Or I in Gloucestershire ; What you have Judg'd impossible , I wou'd plainly make appear . But why shou'd you our Sex condemn , And Women all despise We never with you interfere , Nor trouble the Excise , I wonder much , indeed to find That such your Notions are For most of you are wont to be Admirers of the Fair . But Since that we such Ideots are , I hope , you do refrain Our Company , for fear you Shou'd Your Reputation Stain . Tho' if we Education had Which Justly is our due , I doubt not , many of our Sex Might fairly vie with you .